the mexico city capitanes made their debut in the g league (the nba’s developmental/minor league) last month. an article by marc j. spears on landscape.com details not only the excitement of the capitanes first game in mexico city, but what it represents as a step towards eventually having an nba team in mexico city.
g-league president and former nba all-star shareef abdur-rahim talked to the media about the effort to bring capitanes to mexico city…
three or so years of planning… it’s finally here. a lot of work and planning and struggle comes to fruition, the excitement of the community and then ultimately, it’s history. u haven’t had a north american professional league that has had a team in mexico or in latin america. so, the fact that we, from the g league standpoint, can do that — we can continue to work with the nba in latin america, possibly learn more about the market if there’s possibilities of the nba being here in the future — is outstanding.
or so means about, approximately, roughly. struggle means an intense effort in the face of difficulty. come to fruition means become real. ultimately means at the end. when abdur-rahim says u he isn’t directly speaking to u (or me 😸). he’s using u to say anybody or the public in general. haven’t had is present perfect (auxiliary have + past participle [had]). the use of present perfect here means until now. standpoint means perspective. outstanding means magnificent, exceptional.
a famous “outstanding” meme
abdur-rahim presents a vision of what the mexico city capitanes can be for young basketball players in all of latin america…
it’s pointless to put a team here and then have a bunch of american dudes, right? there’s enough talent throughout latin america, where as a league, being a development league, it should be an opportunity for young latin players, mexican players to find, live out their dream and represent mexico city. so, definitely i could see a future where latin draft prospects … the team here in mexico city could be their pathway to the nba.
pointless means stupid, it doesn’t make sense, it’s a great example of the -less suffix that means without. dude means guy, man. right is confirming the previous comment. it can be used to replace EVERY type of tag question 🙀. throughout means in all parts–from tijuana to tierra del fuego. live out means actually do what u imagined, fulfill. the nba selects it’s players through a draft. pathway is another way to say path, route. should means this is the desiarable, correct role for the capitanes. should is used similarly in these two songs by widely popular artists:
saint jhn‘s track god bless the internet praises the internet for always bringing him new lovers. it starts with the chorus that says
maybe i should not be drinkin‘, before you ask me just how i feel
maybe i should not be drinkin’, ‘fore i speak my mind, that’s not ideal
yeah i got a girlfriend, yeah i should be faithful
and i think of u like wi-fi, and i think of her like cable
god bless the band the internet too and their cut called stay the night that uses variations of these two phrases multiple times…
maybe u should stay the night
i just think you should stay the night
the nba acknowledges (admits) that if and when (hypothetically) they expand, mexico could land (get) a team. while there are a few challenges including security, transportation in the city, language differences and altitude (mexico city is 2,240 m above sea level🏔️), the distance between mexico city and other nba cities is not an issue. nba deputy commissioner mark tatum points out…
it’s a pretty short flight for several of our teams, particularly our texas teams, our florida teams, our new orleans team. arizona actually is a pretty short flight.
actually means in fact; NOT now or currently. pretty means relatively, NOT extremely or very. it is used memorably…
**in the chorus of john prine‘s song pretty good
pretty good. not bad. i can’t complain.
all three of these phrases are typical and similar answers to questions like how are u/how have u been/how’s it going? they mean ok or satisfactory, but NOT great or spectacular.
**and by larry david frequently in his series curb your enthusiasm
spears says…
mexico has proven that it has a strong interest in the nba.
proven is the irregular past pariticiple of prove which means show, demonstrate the truth. the proof is in the more than 30 nba games that mexico has hosted and the various times nba regular season games have sold out arena cdmx, the capitanes’ home court.
justin minaya scores for the capitanes
additionally, the article explains that mexico city is attractive to the nba because…
mexico city is the sixth largest city in the world in 2022, with 22 million people, according to ceo world. the nba’s current most populous market is new york city, which is ranked 41st in the world with 8.9 million people. mexico city has an nba-ready venue in arena cdmx, which has 22,300 seats.
current is now. a venue is a location where events are held. the quantity of seats can be used as an adjective phrase that measures the size of the arena. when this happens in english, the measure (seats in this case) should be singular, i.e. a 22,300 seat venue.
the venue where the mexico city capitanes play
finally, the nba is interested in mexico city because of its significance nationally and regionally…
a mexico city nba franchise will be the team of mexico (132 million people) and attract interest from latin america as well. capitanes games are shown nationwide on star+ and espn mexico (the latter of which is in 22.1 million mexican households; the star+ streaming network airs in mexico and latin america), which make them and the [toronto] raptors the only franchises under the nba umbrella with national television deals.
as well means also, too. nationwide means in the whole nation. the latter refers to the second of two things–espn mexico in this example. u can refer to star+ in this scenario as the former. household is used to consider a house/home as a statistical unit. air as a verb means broadcast, stream. a deal is an agreement. umbrella describes an entity that has several elements. it is the title of rihanna‘s beloved song that uses umbrella as a symbol of protection or support
[the reel at the top of the post contains examples of pretty, dare i say, commute, pollution, either, actually, football, slash, grow up, a bit, growth and fucking]
have u been following the mexico city capitanes? what do u think about the capitanes presence in the g league and a potential future in the nba? share your views under leave a reply
